When it comes to bringing up an adventurous eater, it is so much more than simply persuading them to eat at least one portion of fruit or veg a day. Raising a child who enjoys eating foods from different cultures, full of different textures and tastes can require a great deal of patience and persistence, but it should not feel like it is a chore.
Children need to have regular, positive experiences and interactions with food to overcome any anxieties or fears they have over tasting unfamiliar foods. Over time, getting them to help you with cooking and play a part in their food preparation can help them to build their confidence and give them an incredible experience that touches all of their senses.
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Here, we look at three important reasons why you should cook with the kids.
- Cooking helps children to engage a range of their senses
Tasting an unfamiliar food can be overwhelming for a reluctant eater. You could help your child discover food while cooking by using senses other than taste. This helps to create positive food relationships. Kneading the dough, scrubbing the vegetables, and ripping the lettuce all entail touching the food and getting familiar with the texture. The nuanced tastes that we encounter when eating food come from both the taste sensations of the tongue and the scent of the nose. When cooking with unfamiliar ingredients, some kids can feel too overwhelmed to taste. If this arises, you can suggest that you smell a food first, as this may provide a connection to the taste in the future.
- Cooking helps to create and encourage a family culture
A family meal can start in the kitchen as you cook and prepare the meal collectively. Family meal planning is an opportunity to celebrate your culture and heritage by handing down tried and tested family recipes. Help your kids explore new seasonal recipes and ingredients to add to their arsenal and family cookbook. Teach them what you know; how you tell if a particular fruit or vegetable is ripe, how best to season that chicken, or how to tell the difference between light and dark soy sauce.
- Cooking uses their educational skills and knowledge in a practical way
There are numerous lessons that you can teach while in the kitchen preparing food and cooking. Mathematical concepts such as counting, weighing, and fractions inevitably emerge when browsing a recipe with children. Explaining how food is changed by temperature, or how certain foods will benefit our body is a great science lesson. While cooking with your kids, use new vocabulary to explain how the food looks, feels, and tastes. Following the recipe from beginning to end helps master the abilities to plan and finish tasks.
Over a number of years, preparing meals and cooking as a family will help grow a happy, curious eater with some fairly handy life skills—and lots of happy memories in the kitchen. With enough practice, your child will be able to prepare a delicious meal for you someday!
